Taking the Loss
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: Kid takes the wrong back alley and Snake finally gets him. What will the man and his men do to get at the thief that has eluded and humiliated them for so long? What price will their actions have? M for Violence.


I hadn't been going to post this, since most of it is violence, but I hate having it just sit around so I looked it over and wrote an ending for it. Fair warning, lots of violence. That's all I can say for this story.

* * *

 **Taking the Loss**

Kaito coughed, his air suddenly gone as someone punched him in the gut. His attacker moved as he did to hit him again hard enough that it hurt worse than the first time, the strike aimed at the same spot. It hurt, plain and simple. If there weren't two peopled grabbing like leeches onto either of his arms he would have fallen to his knees as he gasped to try and breath through the throbbing pain.

"Where is Kid? You can't possibly be him." Snake threw the monocle hard enough against the ground that the metal clanged, the glass refusing to break.

Kaito stared up with hard, pained eyes, just as defiant. "I'm a fan. I have no idea what you're talking about. I made that."

Snake walked towards him, the distance the man had kept as a way of keeping his temper in check now eaten up. The alley was dark and far from the hoards of police. All Kaito had had time to do was slip on a coat and different pants. Said coat was unzipped by the man who removed it with the help of the other two so he wouldn't get free. Snake grabbed the tie underneath and pulled it so it was half strangling him, not able to from the front.

"Some hidden cosplayer? You're the assistant, one of my men saw you. Where is Kid?"

"Go suck it. I don't know what you're talking about."

Maybe he should have been keeping his attitude in check but that wasn't something that was easy to do or that he'd ever had practice with, at least not while he was under attack.

Snake punched him really hard in the face. Kaito wasn't sure if it broke his nose but it hurt awful and he tasted blood almost immediately. Those holding him stopped his head from more than snapping back so his face took almost all of the power that was put into the attack. Kaito coughed again, spitting out blood as it fell into the back of his throat.

"Easy way or hard way. I don't care how young you are."

"I don' know," Kaito spoke quieter, his words slurred by his lack of oxygen, though for a different reason now.

The men holding him didn't like that answer.

He was thrown to the ground, both arms pinned as his chin struck pavement and hard, one of the guys punching him in the head which hurt and he was sure hurt the guy's hand just as bad since the pavement didn't want to give anymore than his skull did. His skin was another matter.

"Listen little brat. If you don't start cooperating you're going to die. I don't really think you want to die now, do you?" Snake bent down, yanking his head up by his hair, which wouldn't have hurt as much if it hadn't contained hair close to where the man's fist and just torn away skin.

Kaito spit, not because he wanted to but because he had to, the blood in his throat again. Snake didn't take it that way and slammed his hand into his face, which made Kaito scream. He couldn't help it. That hurt like all hell fire and he tired really hard to stop himself from whimpering afterward, he really tried. His head was limp while Snake lifted it up again.

"Strike two brat."

He was hurt and he was bleeding and there was no way he could free his arms, nothing he could reach. Even if he could, Snake knew his face now. "I tol' you," Kaito said even more silently, finding it hard to speak with his neck like that. "I don' know. I li'e messing wi'h s'uff. I'm no'h worhing wih Kihd."

"Strike three." Snake dropped his hold, Kaito hitting his chin hard again when his current pain took more of his attention then trying to hold up his head at such an odd angle.

"Do what you want with the brat, make it look like a mugging. Burn him, burry him, I don't care. We'll find the Kid this way. There's no way he'd overlook his partner's death. Make it eye-catching."

No. no, no, no, no, no. Kaito wasn't going out like that, not like some civilian who had just gotten caught in the crosshairs. He was Kid, he was the enemy they were so afraid of. He wasn't going to let them take him down so easily.

Someone kicked him hard in the side before the third man who had been the one that punched him ordered the other two around. He fought with them before being brought to his knees, dark eyes staring at him and a smile on his lips.

"Boss says we have to impress the Kid. Gag him."

"No." Kaito had enough breath for that, fighting hard against them as one of the men holding him tightened his fingers so he could reach into his pocket for a handkerchief. His fighting seemed to piss the guy off but it didn't help free him at all.

The cloth was shoved towards him and Kaito moved. He couldn't struggle much but Kami he _could_ struggle. He didn't even care when the searing pain of it hitting his injured nose made itself known. He cost them nearly five minute before the material, tasting slightly of blood, was shoved in his mouth.

"Hold him against the wall."

Kaito fought hard, his body though was getting tired, both from the energy he had expanded before they'd even touched him and from the blows he'd already taken. His arms felt like they were burning where the deep, hard fingertips pressed in.

Then the guy punched him again, repeatedly, in the same spot where he had earlier. The blood he was choking on could have been coming from his nose, but after what had to be the fifteenth or sixteenth hit that had him gasping and half swallowing the iron taste, he wasn't sure.

Kaito was finding himself caring less and less about what they did. He had to find a way out and Jii-chan wouldn't be looking for him, not here anyway. They had a meeting spot but he'd never made it and they only dragged him further away. He couldn't rely on the old man even if he did find him. The cops… the cops were busy chasing his shadow and had no reason to think that someone only a few hundred feet from them _really_ needed their help about now.

The man struck him in the side of the face, cracking the back of his head against the brick of the wall behind him which sent a sharp pain through it, the gag stopping him from making anymore than muffled noises throughout all of this. It was hard to breath. There was blood in his mouth and his nose hurt terribly every time he was forced to breath through it.

Kaito hadn't seen it, didn't know what it was until a few seconds later, but he felt his arm pined closer and screamed into the gag as something hit his wrist and hit it hard. It happened several more times and the pain only got worse, the damage more wide spread and his bone, as he found out when the man backed off with the large rock, not withstanding it as well as it had the concrete.

Then the man walked off for a few blessed seconds while Kaito tried to think. He had a few things on him, things Snake likely would have found if he'd had him searched. He hadn't and that had been stupid of him. Even if he had though, being 'Kid's assistant', it was likely all that would have happened would he would have been stripped of the items he couldn't use anyway without his hands.

"Move him over here."

Kaito felt himself tugged away from the wall and glad for it. The wall had made everything hurt more and he didn't want to feel his head against it again. He preferred the fist to the brick.

What he got wasn't any better. The thug had found a plastic bag and put the large rock in it, swinging it wildly and striking him wherever it hit, mostly his the back of his head. The pain in spots was sharp and his felt dizzy when he looked back up after guy stopped hitting him.

Instead of letting him get himself together, the hands on his left side were taken and switched with who seemed to be the leader of the group, the man forcing him forward as his knee went into his stomach several times. It sent Kaito into a fit of coughs he couldn't get out, the man on the other side shifting as he fell to the ground, the other man's hand holding onto his shoulder and keeping his head against the ground.

Kaito opened his eyes long enough to see the leader grin at him before kicking him repeatedly in the stomach.

After fifteen or so, it was hard to tell, minutes of being beaten on the ground, kicked- punched- spit on, they looked down at him as if assessing how well they had done their job. Kaito knew he was still alive so the job wasn't over and that was the scary part. He was choking on his own blood and he really, really didn't want to die. Not like this and not because of them.

"Take his clothes off."

No. Enough. No.

He fought hard against the man who was holding his shoulder until the leader dropped down, pinning his wrists to the side while the crony took out a switchblade.

"Don't be nice." There was a bunch of nodding and he felt the other guy straddle his legs. Kaito wasn't going to have this, he wasn't. He wasn't a victim.

He bit into the cloth though as a blade dug into his back, deep and near his spine. It was cutting down his shirt and making sure that it took skin with it. Kaito could do nothing but keep his jaw tight, fighting only making the tip go deeper. Then the knife was against his upper arm and he screamed into the cloth and it cut away the shoulder and to the slit in the back so his shirt could be taken off without his hands being freed.

Kaito cried silent tears. He couldn't help it. It really hurt. They turned him over and did the same to his other shoulder before the man on his legs moved up and pinned his arms to his sides. The other two went down to his legs and he wasn't going to have any of that.

Several stab wounds were inflicted before one of the men got hold of his leg. He kicked at him with his other before the other man, likely not the leader, grabbed it, giving him several more stab wounds that made him cry out. If he hadn't had the gag he would have screamed himself hoarse.

. His consciousness was slipping and maybe that was a good thing. He didn't want this to continue. He had the feeling though if he closed his eyes now he'd never open them again and that kept him awake and fighting, as feeble as it was.

He must have deterred them. He wasn't sure what he'd done but one had cursed and they'd stopped trying to stripe him. That didn't mean the wounds were gone or that he was in any better shape. He was very much afraid now. He had no way of getting help and apparently making it 'look good' was something they were taking very seriously.

The one man was still on his stomach while who Kaito had to guess was the leader crouched in front of him and removed the gag. Kaito took the opportunity to cough and turn his head to the side while he spit out what blood and saliva had accumulated.

"Want to talk now?"

Kaito looked up at him, his vision hazy. "I don'… know wha' you wan'." His voice was whispered, shallow with the pain and the man on his chest.

"Turn him over."

Enough. Please, just end it. If they were going to kill him anyway he wanted them to just get it over with. They'd done their job and most of this was physiological at this point anyway. If he was going to be dead than that kind of torture was pointless.

It took all three of them to turn him over with the way Kaito fought and squirmed but he was just too tired and the blows to his head and gut he got for disobeying were all the more striking now that his bare skin was hitting pavement.

Then they began cutting him like meat, thin, slow marks that went horizontal across his shoulders from one end to the other. Kaito cried out, sharp noises that followed the shape blade. He could do nothing to stop it, his arms pinned to the ground. When the thug got halfway down his back, he stopped. Kaito wasn't sure at first if he was just drawing out the tension and waiting for him to relax or not. After a minute of nothing happening, he did.

"His fingers," the man on my back commanded. "If we get nothing then, both of you can have him."

" _Stop_ ," Kaito whined quietly, feeling all three shift. The man on his back put his dirty hands against the new cuts and held him down better, not that he needed to. Kaito didn't have any energy to fight back anymore.

"Who's the Kid? Where is he?"

" _I don' know. Really, I don't."_

Kaito felt a pull of skin and heard a snap. It was hard to catch the sound over his scream. The pointer finger on his right hand was definitely broken but he didn't care at that second. All he cared about was the extreme pain running through that hand. One of the men covered his mouth to cut off the scream but it hurt so bad that Kaito didn't stop, keeping it up and trying to remove the man's hand, gasping for breath afterwards.

"Last chance."

Kaito sobbed, a few tears falling. Kami he couldn't do this, he couldn't. It was just that bad. Shoot him any day but this pain was terrible. " _I… really… don' know."_

Another finger, this time much slower and the gag back in as Kaito screamed his life out of him, his skin pulled back from where it could reasonably bend, burning as it separated enough not to snap as the bone slowly did, different places at different times. When they were done he was crying like crazy, gasping like a drowning man. He could stop neither of them and his body started to shake.

"Hello?"

A familiar voice called down the alleyway and he could have only wished it were the Inspector. I could have been worse, it could have been Aoko, but Hakuba Saguru was a pretty bad choice too.

There was a gunshot. The detective didn't even have a chance, the silencer banging off a few more rounds that made his ears hurt at how close the weapon was to him.

Great. Now they were both dead. If only they would shoot him and get this over with.

The leader moved though, none of his fingers breaking again. That was a mercy he hadn't expected and he cried a few more tears just at the reprieve. In seconds he could see the reason why the leader had left, the detective being dropped next to him and startled as well, red-brown eyes wide in fear and confusion. So he wasn't dead.

Their eyes met and it couldn't have been a pretty sight. Kaito was tired, hurt, and scared. He was also sure with what he'd been subjected to that he could be close to death, though not until they'd done whatever further deeds they were planning. The worst he had gotten vital-wise were the stabs into his legs.

"Kuroba-kun-?"

"Take this one. Deal with him however. He's seen us so just make sure he's good and dead after."

The leader ordered the man at Kaito's side away, the side without the broken fingers. The second he was let go of, Kaito grabbed onto him, not letting him get away. While Kaito's eyes may have been scared and everything, some part of him thought that maybe if Hakuba-kun got away, he could get help. Stupid thought, seeing as he'd be killed that second then, but at least that would be better in either case.

One word was all he could get out. He didn't know how hurt the detective was or if he could fight the thug leader but at least he could give him the chance. "Run."

Hakuba wasn't small. The guy may have been the biggest obsessive geek that Kaito ever knew but he also was naturally born on the larger side. If they'd both had the same amount of body fat, Hakuba would still have more mass than he and not because he was fat, just because of genes.

He also couldn't fight worth a damn so this could go either way. The desperate situation could make up for some, though the wounds he had that Kaito couldn't see would likely be the deciding factor.

Hakuba listened and he listened fast. The leader had caught him by surprise and that was all. Pain was also a good surprise factor. Hakuba may have been tall and a little ill-suited to his own body but he was smart and he was fast.

He was also way out of his weight class where the leader was concerned.

They'd both fallen out of Kaito's vision so he did the only thing he could do, hope for the best and distract the other two.

They were taken with whatever was going on and he was able to at least move the man's hold on his arm. The one on top of him was impossible unless he had full use of both his arms and even that would be a challenge so he rolled and shrugged, fighting against both with what was left of his strength, his legs barely aiding him.

He was pinned back down but he made sure it took both of them to do it. Then there were more gunshots.

Of course.

Even if the detective got away, these guys were armed. Why didn't he think of that? Because he wasn't thinking right now. Kaito let out a breath, defeated. He had tried. There was nothing more to do.

After a pause and a few more gunshots, likely to make sure he was dead, the man on top of him shoved his head into the pavement. The world went blacker and he thought he was finally losing that grasp on the real world. The light came back though and so did his breath, something warm and not nearly as heavy falling over him. He was hurt. He couldn't move anymore. He'd lost all his strength.

"Kuroba-kun, what happened? I need to know."

Kaito felt a hand on his shoulder. That couldn't be real. He looked up at the voice, seeing Hakuba silhouetted in the pale light of the moon that barely made its way down the ally. It wasn't direct so he couldn't see anything more than his outline with his newly blurred vision.

He- what happened just now? Had the world turned upside down for those few seconds he had his eyes closed? "How?" It was all he could get out. His ribs were hurting pretty bad at this point and it was taking all he could to slowly half blink his eyes half open.

"I retrieved the man's gun. After liberating it, I did what I had to."

Kaito wasn't sure but he had the feeling that in the silence, Hakuba was taking in the scene before him. The detective had killed them? Or maybe some were unconscious? Kaito didn't know or care for the first time in his life and reached out a hand, still feeling that fear eating away at him. He wanted to get out. He was a wounded animal and he didn't even have the strength to pounce.

"Right, bad timing. I'll need to know though. This was clearly self-defense on my part but you're gravely injured. Not to mention I'd like to hear your reason for being here personally."

" _Shoo_ ," Kaito said tiredly. He wouldn't be getting any truth in any questions he asked… be it the detective likely saved his life or not.

He heard Hakuba take in a breath, the noise shuddering slightly as he did though the blond looked no different than he had before when Kaito opened his eyes back up. "Can you sit up? My coat is one thing but I think it would be more comfortable if you tied it. If you can walk, even better. It will be some time before the cops find this place, as I was following shadows and noises more than I was directions and I don't feel like sticking around."

Walk? Hah. As if he could. He was starting to lose the feeling in one of his legs altogether. Or maybe it was more than his leg. His fingers, the ones that weren't broken and the ones that were, held a tingle to them as if his circulation was temporarily cut off. He opened his mouth to say no but this time nothing came out. He hadn't been shouting but he must have still been using his vocal cords because his throat felt dry and scrapped up now that he could breath. Shaking his head made him dizzy when he tried so all Hakuba got was him near falling unconscious as an answer.

If it weren't for his fingers tightening and the sudden pain it brought, Kaito knew he would have blacked out. Instead, he winced, blinking dull eyes at the wall on the other side of the alley.

"You need to stay awake. You're bleeding badly and I don't have anything to treat the wounds."

Kaito didn't want to stay awake either. The whole world was just full of pain. Breathing hurt, laying here hurt, thinking hurt. He was pretty sure if he tried to wiggle a finger, it'd hurt too.

But he was damn stubborn. He didn't want to die. That gave him a few seconds of consciousness but it faded more quickly than he would have liked and Kaito let out a light breath. " _It hur's…"_

"I know." There was a hand pushing the hair out of his face, likely to keep a look out on how dilated his eyes were. It hurt too. Kaito winced, though he had no strength to do much more than that.

" _Nah'it'off."_ That, what turned out to be one word, hurt too. Damn it, the world should stop hurting.

"I don't know what else to do, so no. And I believe you said 'knock it off.' If I'm wrong then… Well, then I guess this part of our conversation does not matter." Hakuba put his hand back, moving more hair, and Kaito breathed in a hiss through his nose, only smelling blood.

"Three on one… I suppose even you cannot get out of every situation you fall into. I do not think I can prove anything on you either, seeing as it doesn't seem you have the jewel and there's no physical proof here."

That woke him up a little more, though all he could do was open his eyes, wide enough to hopefully get his message across. Snake was still around looking for him, or Kid, and he thought he knew something. He wasn't sure if he really left like it had seemed at the time. " _Four."_ It was hard to get the word out but he did, and it mixed with body language seemed to be enough. The hand on his shoulder was gone, as was the shadow that was across him. Soon Kaito was just looking up at the corner of some building and the peaceful sky beyond it, where even the stars must have faded from his sight, for he couldn't make them out.

With no incentive to keep him awake, Kaito felt his eyes close. He tried to listen to what happened around him, but his mind couldn't focus on the task and keep him breathing. He was happy his mouth was clear now, as his nose must have been becoming swollen or something. It wasn't so much as painful anymore as it was impossible to breath out of. In his steady stream of blackness behind his lids, he heard something. He wasn't sure what the words, as everything was becoming indistinguishable. There was pain too, but it was just as distant.

What finally got him was when something touched his back and the many sliced up parts of his skin screamed at him as dirt and who knew what made contact and the world shifted beneath him. That was what took the rest of his consciousness and he was gone, a hiss of breath either his own or another's following him.

…

…

…

…

Kaito woke to the annoying beep of a heart monitor. Besides the killer headache and the thought and awareness that he had one, was one other thought.

 _I'm alive?_

He was surprised. Snake obviously hadn't still been nearby but he had been hurt bad and bleeding. Back when they had taken him down and stabbed him, he expected those wounds to kill him.

Of course though, most of the other ones he'd sustained had been just to inflict pain, not to kill.

They had succeeded there. He had been, and still was, in an incredible amount of pain. He also was sure he wasn't even feeling all of it with the needle he could see and feel in his arm. The machine decided to beep a little faster after that, though he wasn't sure why. He wasn't scared of needles.

"Kaito?" Maybe the surprise wasn't only his own. That was definitely his mom's voice. He felt fingers that were chilled, brush against his cheek. He couldn't really turn his head without a lot of extra pain it seemed, but he did move his eyes.

" _Mom…"_

"Oh Kami, Kaito. You're awake." Her fingers moved again and there was something about the sound of her words that gave the impression she either had been or was crying. They were dry though not enough to cut her off.

Kaito managed a smile. Yay, awake. That sounded _just_ great. He wanted to be back asleep and he closed his eyes again. Then he frowned and opened them. He looked as best he could around the room but still only saw his mom. " _Wh'dappened?"_

There was a small breathy laugh from his mother. "I was hoping you'd tell me that. I have no idea. You've been unconscious for three days, maybe four now. I fell asleep and I'm not sure how long I slept."

Weird. Hakuba didn't really know what had happened either, so Kaito kind of understood that. He wasn't really ready to be talking about it though. He was still too hurt and too tired. " _Later."_

"I would hope so." There was the gentle feel of lips instead of fingers against his skin and he smiled, relaxing again. He was safe and he was with his mom. He'd worry about the rest later.

…

Aoko came to visit a few times but Kaito wasn't in the mood. He hurt and he was tired. He either pretended to sleep or really passed out the first few days of consciousness. After a week he was able to speak easily, but his body felt heavy and one of his eyes didn't open all the way. He didn't want to count the amount of bandages that were on him or how much he probably resembled Frankenstein instead of himself.

He did wake up enough halfway through that next week want to talk to Hakuba though as the blond walked in, an obvious limp to his steps when he did.

They both looked one another over for the first few seconds. Kaito couldn't see much, Hakuba's tendency for long sleeve shirts and a coat hiding anything that may or may not be there. He was able to see a small cut above the blond's eyebrow, too pink to be anything other than recent, but shallow enough not to scar.

"You had me scared for a while there," Hakuba spoke, walking up next to the bed with the limp Kaito had noticed in the few steps that had brought him in the door. "I didn't realize how badly you were hurt besides the obvious."

Kaito felt his lip twitch up, wondering how much of the pain _hadn't_ been obvious. He looked down at himself, moving the one arm that had fully functional fingers up so he could make the 'come here' gesture with them.

Hakuba sighed but came closer and sat on the foot of the bed. "This is going to be a very short conversation if you are not going to speak back to me."

"Broken ribs kind of make that hard." Kaito winced, though he had easily been able to get the words out. It was the breathing that hurt. "Thank you. I really want to know what happened but first and foremost, thank you. You saved my life." He had no questions about that. He had been as good as dead. Another few minutes on Hakuba's part and, there or not, he likely still would have been even if the blond had shown up.

Hakuba's smile was a brittle thing, but it was genuine. "You're welcome. I only wish I had come sooner. You very near died right in front of me."

Kaito nodded, very slowly and with almost no movement involved. Pain medicine or not, he had a few too many wounds on his head and back to want to try more. "Hadn't meant to. I tried to get away. You must have missed that part."

"No, I caught some of it. I believe you would remember your own actions that allowed me to escape enough that it wasn't another three on one battle. Besides, your blood was all over that alley. It spoke more than anything of your defiance. I'd expect nothing less from you."

"Or I you. So, are you going to tell me what happened?" Kaito was curious, even if he had his own guesses, and he was pretty sure they were right. It was something about having to hear it that made the difference.

Hakuba lost his smile but he didn't seem sad. In fact, he didn't seem to be feeling anything. "As I said, the man who had come after me found the firearm turned on himself. There was nothing I could do about that. I could hardly take on the two on you by myself, so I made sure the one on you could not use you against me, and the other was given the option of standing down. I am afraid to say he did not take it. I never found a forth man you alluded to. I suppose he either saw what happened and ran off, or he had escaped prior to me showing up."

Kaito let out a breath. So, three of Snake's men were dead. He didn't like the idea but he'd hardly been able to act, and Hakuba-kun had. With only a gun in his hand, it wasn't as if Kaito was surprised at that outcome. Heck, for all he knew, Snake would need to replace them and have little time to hurt anyone else while he recovered. "And you?"

Hakuba tipped his head a bit to the side after a few seconds of silence between them. "And me what?"

"You're limping. I'm not blind."

Hakuba's eyes narrowed a bit before he closed them and let out a breath as he bowed his head slightly. "Muscle damage. I was not able to wrest the gun from him as quickly as I wanted. I'm currently in therapy it. It should not be permanent."

Kaito wanted to ask if that was all but it seemed wrong to. It would either mean Hakuba was holding back on him or it was something the other teen just didn't want to talk about. They had those kinds of secrets between them, and Kaito didn't wholly mind.

After all, Hakuba still had not once asked him what he had been doing in that ally. Either had anyone who had come to visit him. That made him think that someone had already come up with some excuse and the only person who had been at the scene to do it was sitting in front of him.

"Can I ask you who those people were? I am not sure you are going to be willing to answer me, but for my own piece of mind, I would like to know who I just killed to save your life."

Kaito winced, some anger sparking inside of him. Hakuba-kun had been in danger too. It was his own life he had saved as well. That being said, he had only killed one man to accomplish that.

Kaito let the anger die as he tried to relax. "Killers. I don't have any names or a group associating, but they like to go around in the outfits you saw them wearing. I tried to check police files, but there are far too many with men dressed in black outfits for me to figure out which ones were then and which ones were just people trying to blend into the night."

"All right, so you knew nothing further than I did. I had thought as much." Hakuba stood up, being careful not to move the bed as he did and Kaito was grateful. He didn't like that vacant look in the detective's eyes though.

"Hey," Kaito spoke up before Hakuba could leave. "I'm sorry. Thank you, and I'm sorry."

"It was my decision." Hakuba let out a breath and when he drew it back in, there was a small smile there, his eyes half closed. "Seeing you alive and breathing helps a lot. I should not be feeling as guilty about it as I am, but that is simply my personality."

"I'll keep being alive and breathing then. Once I can walk, I'll make sure to hit you for being so stupid too." Kaito blinked his eyes slowly, trying to take small breaths. He knew it was better to breath normally, but it just hurt too much. " _I know you won't like me doing something in return for you, and I wouldn't know where to start, so if you ever need a favor, I've got a few big ones I owe you now."_

He was more than surprised to see a smirk from the blond. "Are you going to tell the police you're Kaitou Kid then?"

Kaito snorted, finding himself smiling too. "Not on my life _or_ yours."

"I didn't think so. How about something a little more simple then? My birthday is two months from now and I will be spending it here instead of in England. Refrain from doing anything stupid the week before and the one thereafter? I would hate having to clean my clothes, dye my hair, or replace any of my belongings after you get back on your feet."

"I think I can do that. I make no promises though."

"For you, _trying_ to reign yourself in was the best I was expecting."

Kaito chuckled, even if it hurt. "Just wait. Those two weeks you might be safe, but I'm going to make sure that you have no time to feel guilty about anything the second I have something to say about it."

It might have been his imagination, but it looked like some of the tension left Hakuba-kun when he said that. "I look forward to not looking forward to it."


End file.
